Price of Pride
by Kaoden
Summary: The unthinkable has happened. Zoro and Robin have been captured by the marines during one of the Straw Hats' escapes from an island. What will happen to the two, will they somehow escape, or will they be prisoners for the rest of their lives?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Hey guys, new story! I know some of the others aren't done yet, but don't worry, they will be! In any case, it's been quite a while since I've done anything with Zoro and Robin, so this is pretty nice to get back to. I'm going to forewarn you guys though, this story is going to be somewhat grim. The angst tag is there for a reason. If you don't like beatings/torture then this might not be your story. Granted, it's not like this will be grotesque or anything, I just wanted to clear that up. In any case, a shout out to Tare-chan, who prodded me to keep on releasing stuff! My thanks for that, I needed it, and also sorry for being a day late :( Well, enough said, I hope you guys enjoy the first chapter and the next will be out in a few days. Be sure to let me know what you think!

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This was bad, things were getting out of control, and fast. Zoro kept up the pace with the rest of his crew, eyes darting from side to side in search of possible threats. He was the second to last person, Robin having gotten stuck behind him somehow, so he had to make extra care that nothing separated the two from the rest of the group. Every second was crucial and just one wasted could be the difference between freedom and a cell.

Taking Wado Ichimonji in his left hand while still running, Zoro twisted the blade to the blunt side before sweeping it across the ground in front of his feet at a platoon of marines heading his way. The 36 pound cannon attack flowed effortlessly from the tip of his blade and hit the marines head on, tearing up the ground and sending them flying everywhere with minor injuries. He preferred not to kill anyone if he didn't have to and simple marines weren't much of a problem to take care of.

No, the problem instead was the others that were chasing the Straw Hats, hot on their heels. They didn't introduce themselves as vice admirals or anything but they may as well have been by the power they wielded. It hadn't been a difficult decision for Luffy to make that they should all high tail it out of the island instead of trying to stay and fight. Looking up ahead of him, Zoro saw the energetic captain laughing wildly as he cleared the way for the rest of the crew to follow.

Zoro heard the raven haired archeologist yell out an attack behind him and chanced a look to see that she had slowed down, putting her focus into incapacitating a large amount of marines heading towards the others ahead of them. Zoro cursed under his breath as he realized that she was going to be split up from the rest of the group because of her slight pause.

Stopping suddenly and turning to face the onslaught of marines chasing them, Zoro withdrew Sandai Kitetsu with his right hand and raised the two swords above his right shoulder, poised to strike.

"Robin, get down!" he roared.

Robin had scarce time to acknowledge what he said before Zoro threw his left arm across his chest, bringing the sword across in another 36 pound attack. She fell to her knees and slid under his swing, finding safety on his backside, before jumping back up and looking back at him.

"KEEP GOING!"

Zoro followed his attack with a second 36 pound cannon, this time with his right arm. The two concurrent energy blasts scattered scores of marines in all directions while scarring the ground beneath them. It still wasn't enough, however, and Zoro used the momentum from his first two swings to spin his body around and continue the onslaught with a 72 pound cannon, both arms swiping across this time. The added force from the first swings gave the 72 pound cannon near deadly force as it whirl winded through people and buildings alike indiscriminately. The swordsman couldn't attest to the well being of those caught up in it but the situation was turning drastic.

Having bought some more time, Zoro turned to run after his crew only to see that Robin had stayed behind. Her arms were crossed and she was sprouting limbs on marines that were approaching the two from behind. Would they have caught him off guard had she not stayed back?

It didn't matter; she had stayed behind when he had explicitly told her not to.

"What the hell, woman!" Zoro yelled out, running to the archeologist before grabbing her by the arm and pulling her along. "Why didn't you keep going? We can't afford to waste a single second!"

"I couldn't leave you behind!" she replied, not resisting the swordsman's pull. "They would have surrounded you if I hadn't stayed." She felt his grip on her tighten.

"I can take care of myself; the last thing I need to worry about is taking care of you!"

"I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself, thank you very much," the archeologist retorted with a touch of scorn.

"Whatever, all we need to worry about is catching up with Luffy and the others and getting off—"

Zoro paused, realizing that they'd been effectively cut off from the others. "Shit!" he swore violently.

"What now?" Robin asked coolly, her mind racing for options.

"You're the smart one!" Zoro yelled, placing his back against hers. "You figure something out!"

Robin and Zoro stood back to back, facing a circle of marines slowly encroaching on them, frantically looking for a way to escape.

"OI, ZORO, ROBIN, WHERE ARE YOU? ARE YOU OK?"

It was Luffy, calling out for the two when he likely saw them get separated from the group.

"We're fine!" Zoro barked at the rubber captain, taking care of a few overzealous marines that had broken the circle. "We don't have time to waste, get to the ship and get it ready. We'll take another route and meet you there!"

"OK!"

Zoro could clearly distinguish the distaste in Luffy's tone. He knew that his captain didn't like nor want to split off in the middle of a chase, but even Luffy realized the necessity of it at this point.

"Figure anything out?" the green haired swordsman asked his companion, slicing up a few attacking more marines than before. The marines knew they had the advantage and were getting more confident by the second; he and Robin needed to think of something fast.

"Nothing comes to mind right now," Robin responded, clutching a couple of marines herself where the swordsman couldn't get to.

"Smart my ass," Zoro chided. He took care of some more marines before becoming desperate. "We don't have time for this shit. Get down, all the way!"

Robin complied immediately this time, not wanting to have another close call like before. She fell to the ground flatly, pressing her stomach against the paved road.

"Santoryuu…"

Zoro pointed both blades to his right, Wado Ichimonji in his left hand crossing his chest, before wildly spinning in a circle, slicing the air itself.

"TORNADO!"

Gales of wind erupted from the katana in his hand and flared outwards, catching all those surrounding him in a blind fury. Bodies and the weapons belonging to them were thrown around like ragdolls in the whirlwind that resulted from Zoro's attack and a wide opening was made as a result. Loud thuds and clangs echoed as the marines caught in the attack fell to the ground alongside their swords and guns.

"Let's go, Robin!" Zoro yelled out, taking lead by running towards the opening. He looked back expecting to see the raven haired woman close behind him only to see nothing.

Stopping immediately and quickly looking around, Zoro saw the archeologist with a gun to the back of her head. He followed the arm holding the pistol to see a young man smiling widely in triumph. In his other hands he held a pair of handcuffs locked around Robin's wrists. Looking at the woman's face and seeing a drained expression led Zoro to believe they were made of kairoseki. The marine must have clipped them on her amidst the chaos of Zoro's tornado and now held her hostage.

"Roronoa Zoro," he began coldly. "If you don't want this woman's life forfeit, drop your weapons and surrender!"

Zoro had no other option. With the muzzle of the pistol pressed firmly against the back of her head so far away there was literally nothing Zoro could do to free her from his grasp.

The swordsman began loosening his deathly tight grip on his katana to drop them when the younger marine raised the pistol in the air and brought it down forcefully against the raven haired archeologist's head.

"You think I'm joking? I'll kill her, I—" was all he could get out before Zoro was instantly on him, his swords cutting cleanly through his torso and his blood spilling freely from his body. The marine gasped briefly in surprise and blood sprang from his mouth as he toppled towards the ground. The brightness in his eyes faded quickly before he even made it to the ground, dead.

Zoro cursed wildly at his action. He fully intended to give himself up to keep Robin safe and alive, however now that he had murdered a marine in cold blood he doubted any such kindness would be shown to them from here on out. He didn't even mean to slay the boy; it was just that the sight of him smashing Robin in the back of the head while she was defenseless drove the swordsman into a bloodthirsty fury. He'd acted upon pure instinct. With the gun no longer in a threatening position, the young marine had no chance at stopping Zoro from action.

If the marines surrounding the two strawhats had been acting on confidence before, they were acting on pure rage now. Seeing one of their own fall to the hands of a pirate drove them beyond the sense of rationality and they now charged Zoro in scores.

No longer caring about petty ideals such as not killing when it could be avoided since Robin's life was at stake, Zoro made quick work of those assailing him, some more brutally than others. He tried to avoid slaying them, sure, but he held nothing back. Feeling completely overwhelmed and seeing the archeologist barely able to stand from the cuffs restraining her, Zoro looked to the opening he had made earlier only to find despair. The opening was gone and with it just about any chance for freedom.

It didn't matter, though. The only thing that mattered was keeping the endless stream of marines barreling towards him away from Robin. He'd hold out all day if he had to. There was no way that—

Something struck Zoro in the back of the head forcefully and his vision flared from the blow. He stumbled forward, his expertise so great that he still managed to dispatch those attacking him from the front. Within seconds his vision started to become blurry and stars danced around everything he could see. He turned around to see who had hit him only to see Robin face down on the ground, a large man pinning her down while twisting the cuffs on her hand.

His fury renewed, Zoro diverted all of his attention to the one restraining Robin and began to charge. Before he could take a step forward, however, another incredibly strong blow landed on the back of his head.

This time, everything went black.


	2. Chapter 2

They'd been caught.

Zoro would have cursed under his breath and put up some resistance to the hands dragging him along the floor by his arms had he any strength left. These marines that had caught him and his fellow crewmate were rather merciless even considering that he and Nico Robin were wanted pirates.

It had taken no longer than 10 seconds after the two had been taken to the secluded stronghold meant to house them until a prison ship came, just long enough for the door to be shut behind them, when the beatings began. A particularly eager marine had taken a club and swung it into the back of the swordsman's leg before either could recognize what was going on. The sudden attack caught Zoro entirely off-guard and nearly crushed his bone.

He'd fallen to his knees immediately, his senses recovering and instincts kicking in as his muscles flared with anticipation, tightening as best as they could to dampen the then steady stream of club blows landing all around his body. Had he not trained as vigorously as he'd done every day up to that point, Zoro had no doubt in his mind that he wouldn't still be conscious and in one piece right now, assuming that he would even have survived.

It had been all but the grace of god that Robin hadn't been included in that cluttered mess of a beating.

Zoro scowled to himself. _God_. He never once believed in such a convenient excuse of an all powerful being, yet he couldn't help but thank the enigmatic figure for keeping his nakama out of harm's way for the time being.

Speaking of Nico Robin, Zoro cast glances from side to side, hoping to see some sign of the raven haired woman. It didn't take long, thankfully, and he noticed her being led, still upright and walking, right next to him.

Zoro chanced a look up at her face and saw that she was staring worriedly down at him in return. Her full, hazel eyes showed signs of fear and a touch of helplessness that he'd not seen since she yelled at them at Enies Lobby to leave her to her death. That she wanted to die. Even if the other strawhats hadn't noticed that look in her eye, he had. The look showed fear, fear that she was going to die that day and that she didn't want to. He'd never before seen such emotion in her beautiful features before and it was all that had been needed to convince Zoro he'd made the right decision declaring war on the government for her sake. He made a vow to himself that he'd never let those eyes of hers ever become scared again.

And yet here he was, staring at the very thing he swore to prevent. Regret and sorrow welled up in the swordsman like a cracked dam where the water burst through more easily and forcefully as the crack widened. Her eyes were outlined in red, as if she'd been tearing up at some point since they entered the holding facility, and seeing the pain on Nico Robin's face gave Zoro the small amount of energy he'd needed before to curse violently under his breath.

It wasn't directed at the marines who'd done this to him, nor was it to the circumstance of them being captured, something that he'd never get reprieve of from that damned cook, nor was it even that he couldn't do a single thing currently to assist in their escape. It was directed at himself. At his miserable, unworthy, pathetic self. He'd been the one to stay behind to help out Robin. It had been him who had told all of the others to go to the ship and get it going for when they got back. It had been him who had promised her safety. And now? They were captured, trapped. Certain death was looming towards them unless by chance some miracle was to occur, which Zoro highly doubted.

Sure, there was always his crew to rely on, but they wouldn't have known that something was amiss until they had to set off without Zoro and Robin. Of course they would come back at another part of the island to search for the two, but considering that he had been knocked out, Zoro had no idea if he was still on the same island. For all he knew, he was somewhere else hundreds of miles away from his crew, a place where they'd never think to look for the two.

He'd basically signed his own and Robin's death warrants. He may as well be the one driving swords into their midsection, piercing through their hearts and other vitals as the marines seemed to favor for their executions.

It didn't take long for the swordsman to decide he couldn't bear the look on her face anymore. He tore his gaze away from hers and shamefully let his head dangle loosely, it swaying around to the irregular motions of the two people dragging him along the ground.

It wasn't long before the dragging stopped and he was lifted off of the ground and thrown backfirst into a wall. The impact knocked out some of the air in his lungs and each breath afterwards pained him slightly. Both of his arms were then pulled out to the side before being clasped in a shackle on each end, a chain stretching on both sides to hold him upright even if he couldn't hold himself up.

When the two marines who had carried him let him go, the swordsman felt a drop in his stomach as he fell forward toward the dirty ground before a sudden jolt stopped him, the chains on each shackle locking up and keeping him dangling forward off the wall a slight bit. His gaze fell to the ground and the first thing he saw was the dried blood under his feet, caked layer upon layer. He had no doubt that more than one pirate, or marine even, had found himself staring at the same spot, blood dripping off of their face and onto the ground. He was also confident that to a fair number of these individuals, this blood soaked ground was the last thing they'd ever seen.

Something caught the corner of his eye and Zoro looked at it. There was another shackle chained to the wall by his foot, the length of chain considerably shorter so that his legs wouldn't be able to move at all. He guessed there was another one at his other leg, but he knew that the two marines who'd shackled him didn't bother using them since his legs had been beaten so badly. Those who had assailed him with the clubs had taken special effort to make sure his legs were properly taken care of. Though nothing had been broken, Zoro could feel that his muscles had been bruised so deeply that he'd be surprised if he could stand on his legs within a week, much less walk on them.

Zoro heard the sound of a chain being pulled through a loop next to him and looked to the source. He saw that they had attached something to Robin's kairoseki handcuffs and had fed it through an iron ring rather far above her head. One marine continued pulling the chain through, lifting Robin's arms above her head just high enough where she could still stand but not move her arms more than a few inches. Two more clasping noises of metal clanking on metal signified more shackles being secured around her ankles, holding her in place.

Again Zoro saw that her eyes were on him, never wavering for a moment. He felt himself melt under her stare, his anger at himself boiling and his shame immeasurable. He wanted nothing more than to console the woman staring woefully at him, but Zoro knew nothing he could say would accomplish that. His words would be emptier than the scabbards at his side. He supposed they had let him keep the scabbards as some sort of cruel joke.

"I'm sorry…"

Zoro's eyes widened. He could have sworn a faint and feminine voice had said something that disgusted him.

Robin spoke again. "I'm sorry… for everything…" she murmured under her breath.

Zoro gawked at the archeologist and saw that she no longer looked at him, instead favoring the blood soaked ground in front of her feet.

"I… I… I'm… it's all my fault, Zoro…" Her voice was barely above a whisper and Zoro would not have believed she'd said it without having seen her lips move firsthand.

Zoro looked down at the ground by his feet as well. "No…" he rasped. "It's mine."

Zoro heard the archeologist's chain scrape against the wall as she tried to turn and face him. He felt her stare dig into him and could tell she was crying. He didn't even have to look to know, he could hear the teardrops land on the floor, probably chipping away some of the caked blood below.

"How can you say that?" Robin quivered. "I'm the one who got caught up. You wouldn't be here if it wasn't for my incompetence. You shouldn't have come back…" She paused, choking on her words. "You should have left me."

The last words pained Zoro more than anything else ever could have. "I… I could never—" Real pain coursed through the swordsman's body suddenly and he coughed wildly. "Never leave you like that… ever." Now it was his turn to pause. "I failed to protect you."

Both strawhats remained silent for a time afterwards and soon Zoro began to feel tired. He decided to close his eyes and sleep for what little amount he could to regain as much strength as possible before the marines returned for whatever nefarious reasons. As he started drifting off into sleep, a splash of cold water rudely reawakened him.

Zoro glared angrily in front of him to the source of the water, seeing a man wearing a coat of command holding a bucket. When the swordsman looked at the man's face he almost had to do a double take; it was the man he'd killed who was threatening to put a bullet in Robin's head earlier.

But that couldn't be right, and Zoro knew that. He shook his head to clear up his thoughts and realized that while looking strikingly similar, this man before him was not the one from earlier.

"Look familiar?" the man taunted, a slight grin on his face, before dropping the bucket to the ground.

Zoro said nothing.

The smile quickly disappeared. "I should. That was my little _brother_ you killed today you piece of shit."

That was two bad things rolled into one sentence. First was that this ranked marine, possibly running the entire facility, already had a grudge on Zoro. A _big_ grudge. Second was that the man had said his brother had been killed today, meaning Zoro was likely only out for a couple of hours. If that was the case, then Luffy and the others might still be trying to get away from the marines, not even taking into consideration that he and Robin had been caught. It would be some time before they realized what had happened and began their search. It could take days to be found and this man seething with rage in front of him didn't look like he wanted Zoro to live for another second.

Zoro realized, suddenly, that if he had been out for only a few hours, then chances were they were still on the island. However, before he could consider it any further, a sizable fist bore its way into his stomach.

Zoro hacked violently from the blow, bending forward with spittle going everywhere. He barely had any time to recover before a second fist drilled into the center of his face, in between his nose and mouth. The swordsman's head flew back from the force of the punch and he smacked his head against the wall from the recoil, dazing him and blurring his vision. While disoriented from the hit, Zoro could taste blood in his mouth and felt more running down his chin, likely from his nose. He realized, belatedly, that Robin had been yelling out something the whole time, but what it was he couldn't discern.

As his senses slowly began clearing, something forcefully grabbed his hair and pulled his head upwards and the green haired swordsman was met with the sight of a crazed man, his heart filled with vengeance. The man's eyes darted across Zoro's face, calculating, and when he seemed satisfied he threw the swordsman's face back downwards to where it had been resting before.

"Nothing is broken… good. We don't want to ruin anything just yet." He strutted around the two restrained pirates, looking at them as he walked. "We've only just started, after all."

"Started?" Robin echoed. Zoro was finally able to make out what she was saying. True to her nature, she asked simple questions that would be answered with critical information.

The man stopped in front of her, leaning towards her with a malicious grin on his face. "Yes, started. You didn't think that we were just simply going to hold you here until a prison ship came to bring you to Impel Down, did you?"

There was a confused look in Robin's eye, something that the man noticed.

"Confused, huh? I can understand." He straightened up and paced over to the swordsman. "Regulation dictates I get you on the next available ship and send you to Enies Lobby for your trial and processing…"

Both Zoro and Robin understood where he was going with this train of thought.

"But… correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you guys just destroy Enies Lobby?" He rubbed his chin in mock contemplation. "I guess with all the chaos going on right now, we don't really know what we're supposed to do with the two of you."

He walked in front of Zoro and lifted his head up by the chin, staring eagerly into his eyes. "But… I think I have a few ideas of what we can do. Ideas I don't think the two of you will be too fond of."

Without another word, the man dropped Zoro's head and began raining heavy blows onto any spot he could reach. Dull thuds echoed throughout the room, only muffled by the grunts from Zoro and the yelling from Robin. With his arms shackled above him, Zoro could do nothing to protect any part of his body, something his tormenter took great advantage of. A hit to the ribs would be immediately followed by one to the stomach, and vice versa. Every now and then a punch would be directed at his face or a kick to the lower body, the ones landing on his legs being the worst thanks to the heavy bruising.

After a few minutes, the marine captain stopped to catch his breath, leaving Zoro beaten nearly unconscious. Blood stained the marine's fists and knuckles. There were streaks of red across his clothes as well thanks to splatter.

After he caught his breath, the man walked in front of Robin, taking the time to wipe his fists clean with a cloth he'd taken out from his coat.

"I left you conscious for one reason, Roronoa Zoro. It's so you can hear every bit of what I do to her, the same way I had to watch my little brother die."

The marine captain looked at Robin and saw her gaze on the green haired swordsman hanging limply from the chains that bound him. As he had done with the swordsman, he grabbed her by the chin and turned her head, forcing her to look him straight on.

"My, my. The rumors are true." The man turned her head from side to side, inspecting her features. "You really _are_ a beautiful one, aren't you? It's a shame I'm going to have to touch that pretty little face of yours. Truly is."

Robin spat in his face.

The action infuriated the marine captain and he raised his hand in the air.

"STOP!"

He paused, the hand still up and ready to strike.

"Beg your pardon?"

"I said…" A cough broke through, droplets of blood hitting the ground. "Stop…"

The marine captain leered at Zoro, Robin's chin still in his grasp.

"And if I don't?"

"I'll kill you."

"How _frightening_…"

The marine looked back at Robin and considered something. Nodding to himself, he let go of her face and walked back to Zoro, picking his head up by the hair.

"I hate to break it to you, Demon Cutter, but things don't work around here like that. We like to keep things fair and equal here, regardless of age or gender. You get a beating? She gets one too." The man mockingly looked up and down Zoro's body. "And by the looks of it you've gotten one already and then some. You know what that means."

"I'll… take hers…" Zoro managed through grit teeth. His body felt like it was on fire, but it didn't matter.

"Oh?"

"Don't listen to him!" Robin shrieked. She would not have Zoro bear her punishment.

"You heard me."

The marine erupted into a voracious laughter.

"That's quite noble of you, swordsman," the captain boomed, completely ignoring the raven haired archeologist. He eyed Zoro intensely. "If you so desire, be my guest, but…" His eyes narrowed. "If you at any point lose consciousness, I'll kill her." He ran a thumb across his neck in a slitting gesture to get his point across.

Zoro managed a boastful grin despite everything. "Shouldn't be a problem then."

"If that's how it's going to be. Don't worry though, like I said, I'm fair. I'll give you double what I would have given you to begin with and nothing more. It's too bad, though, I was hoping to enjoy the lady's company for more than a day. Prepare yourself, when you wake up she'll be dead."

Zoro smiled to himself. Not a chance in hell.

As before, the marine captain dealt merciless blows to the green haired swordsman, not letting up for a second. Robin's muddled cries from earlier paled in comparison to the ones she bellowed now. If Zoro had thought the first beating was painful, he had no comprehension of what the second would be like. Pure agony coursed through his body, reminiscent of the ball he'd endured at Thriller Bark. After that day, the swordsman grew the impression that anything else would be much easier to bear. He was sorely mistaken.

After a few minutes the captain stopped, Zoro still awake and coherent. Interestingly enough it was around the same time as before; the marine had not lied about the length.

"You still conscious?" the man asked out of mere formality. He knew Zoro had been knocked out halfway through the ordeal.

"Damn right…"

The marine's eyes widened in genuine surprise. "I'll be damned. I could have sworn you were completely out, if not dead."

"Like hell…" Zoro's voice was barely above a whisper. It was all he could manage.

"Very well. There's always tomorrow. And trust me, there _will_ be a tomorrow."

The captain began walking towards where he'd come in.

"Wait!" Robin called out after him. "Let me take tomorrow's! Both of them!"

"No."

The man exited, slamming the door behind him. The noise was one of the most welcomed things Zoro had ever heard in his entire life. He was barely keeping himself conscious as it was, and now he had reprieve until tomorrow. He could feel Robin's attention directed towards him, he could even make out her talking to him. It didn't matter though, he couldn't understand a word and soon her voice faded into garbled noise. His eyelids felt like lead and he didn't even bother trying to keep them open. The world swirled around him in an indiscernible manner before fading to black.

Zoro passed out.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Sorry for the delay between the last update and this one. It may not seem like it, but this chapter (and the next) have been done for a little bit but what it came down to was that I kept changing things here and there, some big and some small. What I'm beginning to realize now is that this story has a lot more potential for depth than what I originally thought and ending the story next chapter like I had planned to wouldn't really do the material up to now justice. As such, I'm cutting this chapter off earlier than originally planned and will continue on from there. Expect the next update Friday and as always enjoy!

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Zoro's head was dunked under a canister of water. A few minutes passed and, as with the other times it had been done, the swordsman started throttling around violently in an attempt to resurface his head for air. After what seemed like an eternity of him struggling, Zoro finally went limp and immediately afterwards had his head removed from the water.

He gasped for air violently, trying to suck in as much of the terribly needed oxygen that he'd been getting deprived of for the past hour. The men holding him were much less considerate this time and Zoro only had time enough for a couple of breaths before they threw his head into the water again. To his credit, despite the wretched condition his body was in, three marines were required to hold him down while they dunked him.

Zoro didn't struggle at first, trying to calm himself down and outlast their judgment. If he could sit still long enough, the marines holding him would wonder if he had actually drowned, pulling his head out of the water as to prevent such an occurrence. He told himself this, as he had every single time before, and yet as the time dragged on and the oxygen in his lungs dwindled, self preservation kicked in and no amount of focus or discipline could change the fact that he was drowning.

It took less time than before for Zoro to wildly fight those holding him down, water sloshing out of the side of the pan with each marine grunting in exertion at holding the swordsman down.

"Up."

Following their commander's orders, the three marines lifted Zoro up and held him above the pan of water.

The commander, apparently named Daron as Zoro had overheard, leered down at the swordsman.

"Had enough yet? We can stop anytime that you want." He strolled around the green haired pirate mockingly. "Of course, you know what would happen if we were to stop, don't you?"

Zoro said nothing in response, more focused on catching his breath while he could.

"That pretty _broad_ of yours will take your place, tenfold."

Zoro's eye twitched at the last statement. "There's something I need to tell you," he managed to get out.

"Oh? And what is that?"

Zoro smiled a faint smile. "I'm a little thirsty, think you could help me out?"

Daron frowned. "If that's what you want."

Zoro's head was thrust under the water again.

The dunking continued on for another half of an hour, neither party talking during it and it confirmed what Zoro had already begun to accept.

The only objective of the torturing was to break him.

Rather than ask him questions about his crew or other pertinent information, Daron instead questioned Zoro's determination and endurance. The swordsman figured that Daron assumed he wouldn't talk if asked, which he wouldn't no matter how high the stakes, but the lack of any effort at obtaining information was a tell tale sign that it wasn't what the marine captain was after.

As his head was taken out of the pan one last time, Zoro realized that they were extremely effective at what they set out to do. The past couple of days had been absolutely ruthless and the green haired swordsman didn't know how much longer he would be able to endure. To that end, he didn't even know how many days had come and gone since there was no way of telling how much time passed inside the building. If he were to assume that they'd given him affable time to rest, which he highly doubted, then he and Robin had been in captivity for close to four days.

Every day since the first the torture had lasted longer and became a bit more intense. Daron had begun to look increasingly perturbed lately and even though Zoro suspected the man still greatly enjoyed what he was doing he couldn't help but feel the marine was becoming more and more anxious. Perhaps he was worried someone he didn't want to would find out, or perhaps it was something better for the swordsman. Maybe Luffy and the others were getting close to finding them and he felt pressured to end things before that happened.

If there was only one thing that Zoro could respect about the captain, it was that he was devoted to his word. The man could simply have the two pirates in his grasp executed and be done with them, however he'd told Zoro no such thing would happen until the swordsman gave in. Zoro had a hunch the marine was trying to speed things up.

"Stand up," Daron's haughty voice commanded the swordsman.

Zoro looked at him blankly. The three marines that held him down before now surrounded him but otherwise left the swordsman alone. He was sitting on his legs pathetically and could hardly muster the strength to move them. Standing up was simply out of the question.

Daron's eyes narrowed at the swordsman. "I said, **stand up**." His voice, while not rising in volume, echoed a stern tone.

Zoro looked down at his legs before returning the gaze to Daron, dumbfounded. Of all people, the captain should know that he asked the impossible.

A fist slammed into the swordsman's cheek and threw him to the ground in a heap. For what seemed the hundredth time Zoro tasted warm blood in his mouth. He welled up the blood in his mouth before spitting it onto the ground, picking himself up with his arms and looking angrily at Daron afterwards.

The husky marine did not look amused.

"I don't think you're quite getting it. _**Stand up**_."

Zoro didn't move.

"Is that defiance I'm seeing? Don't forget you're our prisoner, Demon Cutter; you do as we say. If not, I'm going to have to teach you a lesson."

"By _what_, beating me some more?" Zoro scoffed at the marine. "Like that's going to do anything."

"Who said anything about beating _you_?" Daron sneered.

Zoro's defiant look disappeared.

"Finally sinking in, huh? You've got it; I'll give your punishment to her if you continue to be so uncooperative. Now, as I've already told you, STAND!"

Zoro tried pushing himself up onto his legs but felt them instantly buckle under his weight. He tried a second time, this time more quickly and forcefully, and ended up falling to the ground on his side. His legs throbbed in agony.

"I SAID STAND, DAMN YOU!"

Daron kicked Zoro in the stomach. The swordsman coughed out and clutched his stomach. The marine captain drew his leg back in preparation for a follow up kick before Zoro started moving on his own again.

Taking more care to keep his balance, Zoro slowly raised himself off of the ground and put increasing amounts of weight on his legs. At first they wobbled violently under the strain, but after a minute or so they grew used to it and found renewed strength from places Zoro didn't know existed. He was going to do it, he was going to stand up on his own and keep his balance.

A thought suddenly occurred to the swordsman. If he could stand after everything he'd been through, what else could he do? It'd taken three marines to hold him down so it wasn't like he was completely helpless, and it was only those three plus Daron inside of the room. There had been no Den Den Mushis recording anything, either, since it seemed a lot of what Daron carried out wasn't something he wanted others to know about. All Zoro had to do was catch the four men by surprise and incapacitate them. Daron probably had keys that would unlock Robin's cuffs and with her still in good shape she'd be more than enough to get them out of there once the Kairoseki cuffs were no longer restraining her powers.

Before he could act on the thought, and just before he made it to a fully standing position, something smashed into the back of his left leg, throwing it out painfully from under him and he fell to the ground, worse off than before.

"I said stand up, or were you not listening?" Daron's tone had changed from earlier. It was more sinister, more tantalizing.

It dawned on the swordsman that Daron wasn't going to let him stand back up. The whole point was to give Zoro a false sense of hope that he could somehow overpower his captors and escape before immediately crushing that hope. He briefly considered stopping his attempts since to continue trying was a waste of strength that he would desperately need in the near future.

"If you stop trying, I'll kill her," Daron interjected, probably knowing what was going through the green haired swordsman's head. It wasn't an empty threat.

No longer having a choice, Zoro struggled to get on his feet. As with before, any time his struggle came close to achieving success Daron would kick out his leg, knocking the swordsman back to the ground before he could acquiesce the marine's demands.

This continued until Zoro no longer had the strength to even lift himself up with his arms. As he came crashing down to the ground for a final time, every muscle in his body throbbed in unrelenting agony. Breathing alone was a strain. His eyes were half open and he was barely hanging on to consciousness.

"Stand." Daron loomed over the swordsman, looking down at him passively.

Zoro couldn't even muster the strength to say anything. All he could manage to do was take sharp, jagged breaths. His eyes were glossed over, seeing but not focusing.

"Guess we're done with that, then." Daron looked at his men and gestured to the swordsman by his feet. "Do as you wish. Afterwards chain him back up. Richter, come find me when you're bringing our prisoner back to his holding area."

The man known as Richter stood attention, saluting the captain. "Yes sir."

The marine captain began walking towards the exit of the room to attend to other matters. He turned back before his men got started, the three encroaching on the swordsman. "Remember, don't kill him. We've still got more to do."

* * *

Robin weakly opened her eyes after waking up from a nap she'd finally been able to take. It was monumentally difficult to even consider getting some sleep, especially with what was happening to Zoro, but she forced herself to in the highly unlikely chance she was somehow freed of her restraints. It would do her and her companion no good if she was freed and had no strength to take full advantage of it.

Even though she somehow managed to make herself sleep, it had only totaled to a couple of hours in the few days they'd been kept here. Since she wasn't being distracted by hellish treatment like Zoro was, she was able to keep a decent track of time. They'd been in captivity for somewhere in between two to three days and she'd only seen the swordsman for a fraction of them.

Any time he was brought in, the green haired swordsman looked like a husk of a person, barely resembling the man she had gotten to know over the time she'd been sailing under the Straw Hat emblem. She knew he was still in there, but for how long she did not. Every time he was brought back he either slept or pretended to, choosing to grind the chains restricting his arms against their metal holsters rather than talk to her.

He hadn't spoken a word to her since their first discussion once they were shackled to the wall, something that bothered her greatly. She could understand when he was sleeping, but why pretend to sleep when he wasn't? Was he that afraid of talking to her about their situation; that ashamed? It irked her that he didn't even have to courtesy to talk to her after what he had done, selfishly taking on her punishment as well as his own.

Robin bit her lip. It had been her that had gotten the two pirates caught! Her and her alone! Why should Zoro suffer when it was her fault? Why had he baited the captain to give everything to him? It wasn't fair. She should be the one suffering, not Zoro.

It wasn't fair.

Robin's attention shifted to the sound of metal slamming against stone as the cell door was thrown open. Two men dragged a limp figure along the ground by his legs and it wasn't difficult to figure out it was Zoro. His arms lay slack behind him and it looked like it was all the man could do to breathe. Robin stared grimly at the men carelessly dragging her nakama across the ground. If she got freed… no… _when_ she got freed, she would make sure that they regretted ever becoming a marine.

The two men shackled Zoro to the wall by his arms before leaving him alone to dangle helplessly. Afterwards they turned to the door and Robin followed their gaze to see their captain. He was walking towards her, being led by another marine the archeologist had begun to recognize by the crooked nose he wore on his face. Robin didn't know any of the men's names and didn't particularly care to, their faces were burned into her memory and she wouldn't forget them any time soon.

"Quite a sour look you're sporting there," the captain chided as he walked to the raven haired archeologist's front. "Something the matter?"

Robin chose to remain silent, instead saying everything she could have wanted to through her vehement glare.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," the captain continued, raising his hands in a defensive gesture. "No need to be so cross, Nico Robin. Besides, you really shouldn't show such an unseemly look on a face as pretty as yours."

Robin didn't change the stare, if anything it got worse.

The captain reached up with his right arm before backhanding the raven haired woman across the face. The blow caught her entirely off guard and her head swung to the side.

"I told you to not look at me like that."

Robin felt something running down her right cheek and realized that it was blood. Her face stung bitterly, mostly at the spot she'd been hit, directly under her eye on the cheekbone. The backhand had probably split open her cheek against the bone but she couldn't be certain since her arms were restricted.

The marine captain looked disappointedly at Zoro and then back to Robin before turning back towards the exit.

"Too bad he's out cold. I still have to punish him for his earlier insolence but with him out like that what good will it do? Let's go, men."

The man walked out with the two who had carried Zoro in following close behind. The one with the crooked nose, however, paused at the exit and turned back to look at the raven haired archeologist. His eyes fervently looked over the archeologist's body and she shivered under his stare. It looked like he was contemplating something before a voice called him from the room.

Finally alone, Robin looked over at Zoro and saw him hanging still from his restraints. She saw his stomach expand and retract raggedly and that meant that at the very least he was still breathing. A few minutes passed before Robin heard an all too familiar noise coming from the swordsman's direction. The sound of a chain grinding against metal.

"I know you're not asleep, Zoro. You aren't fooling me." Robin looked sternly at the man chained next to her.

After a pause, Zoro responded, "It's not you I'm trying to fool."

Robin raised an eyebrow. "Then why haven't you said anything?"

"Because you haven't either, I figured you didn't want to talk."

Robin bit her tongue. It made sense, it wasn't that he was trying to avoid her; it was that she hadn't had the courage to talk to him. Zoro wasn't exactly the talkative type, so she should have known he wouldn't be the one to start a conversation. She'd been thinking about the situation in the wrong light the entire time and she berated herself for it.

"Why did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Don't be coy, Zoro. You know damn well what I'm asking."

The swordsman paused, opening his eyes before staring blankly at the ground.

"Because I told everyone that we'd be ok, that I'd protect you. I'm just keeping that promise."

Robin scowled. "So it's because of some backhanded reason of pride then? Are you fucking serious?"

Zoro looked at her startled, caught by surprise at her outburst.

"What kind of excuse is that? Do you want them to write on your tombstone 'Died Honorably'? Because they are going to _kill you_ at this rate; and for what? _Pride?_ _Honor?_ I honestly thought you had an actual reason as to why and instead you pull that out of your ass? Aren't we supposed to be working together as nakama to overcome anything in our path? You taking this all on yourself isn't going to do a damned thing in the long run! Where does it lead you? Nowhere. What does it give you? Nothing. All it means is that you're dead and gone and that you're leaving us… leaving me…"

Tears started falling down the archeologist's face. Zoro opened his mouth to say something but she cut him off before he could get a word in.

"It's _bullshit_ and you know it."

Silence again. This time it was broken by the green haired swordsman.

"I'd be lying if I said pride and honor didn't have anything to do with it… but there's something more to it also." Zoro looked calmly at the archeologist, his look unwavering. "I'm not really sure what it is, but the thought of seeing you hurt is more unacceptable to me than it is doing this to you. Maybe it's just me being selfish… I don't know."

His eyes moved over to her cut. "Also, sorry… about your face."

"Huh?" Robin asked, confused.

"I was awake the whole time but couldn't do anything…" He paused to catch his breath, breathing heavily. "If they knew I was conscious they would have done worse."

Robin raised an eyebrow. "Because of the insolence he mentioned?"

"Sorta. They made it so I couldn't do what they said. Probably didn't expect things to go this far…"

Nothing else was said for a few minutes, the only audible noise being Zoro's strained breathing and the scraping of his binds. The noise once again piqued the archeologist's interest.

"Why are you doing that?"

"Doing what?"

"You know…" Robin gestured with her head at Zoro's shackles. "That."

"Oh…" Zoro looked up at the chains and then at the door, scanning the entire room to make sure nobody was there. "I'm trying to grind them down so I can break loose. They haven't been clasping my legs and I was almost able to stand earlier, so maybe I can break free and get the jump on them. Daron probably has a key to your cuffs so then once you're free we'll be a lot better off."

Robin guessed that Daron was the one in charge. "What makes you think Daron has the key? Have you seen it?"

Zoro chuckled morbidly, something that disturbed the archeologist more than she'd have liked it to. "No, but what else do we have to go on?"

The last statement was probably why the laugh bothered her so much. Both knew that the hope of them escaping now was very slim, Zoro had simply expressed it.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Been way too long since the last update, but I pretty much tossed out the previous chapter I had written since I didn't like it. Before you read this, though, I'd like to remind you guys that this is a _dark_ story. Emphasis on dark because it should probably be under mature (as far as the site's guidelines go anyways) but I'm not classifying it as that because it gets monumentally less views (I guess I'm selfish!). Reiterating that it's not grotesque or crossing serious lines (gets a little close though, maybe). Just a fair warning.

* * *

It had been around a day since the water torture and things had become relatively uneventful for the two captured pirates, too uneventful actually. Their captors hadn't returned since the dunking and Zoro was beginning to worry.

Was Daron planning on keeping his earlier promise that he'd made to him? The marine captain had said that if Zoro were to pass out at any point that he'd kill Robin, but it didn't add up. He'd let his subordinates have their way with Zoro far beyond the point of reason; there was no possible way any one man could have stayed conscious during the whole ordeal. If he followed through with his previous threat it would essentially be the same as breaking his promise.

Zoro realized that he was going off the assumption that Daron had any intention of sticking to his word to begin with and chastised himself for it. Maybe that was the whole point, to give Zoro some false sense of hope before utterly crushing it right before his eyes.

Regardless, there were two things he did know for certain. One was that things would have been much worse for his companion had he not feigned unconsciousness earlier. The other was that they were just about out of time. The next time that door open and Daron walked through, the only thing that would follow would be utter brutality for the archeologist and that was something that Zoro could not allow to happen.

Spurred on by the reminder that time was short, Zoro fervently grated the chains holding his arms up above his head. It had been Zoro's misfortune to be shackled to the wall by two separate links rather than a single one like Robin had been. One chain would have been much easier to wear down, not to mention that when broken both of his arms would be free rather than one. If he managed to free himself of one bond but not the other, he would be no better off than before and if caught he would lose all progress that he'd made and, consequently, his final chance to escape.

Hell, the green haired swordsman couldn't even tell if he was actually doing anything to the chains but he tried to not think about that too much. It was one thing to have his captor constantly emphasizing how useless thoughts of escape were, but another entirely for him to start thinking that as well. The second he accepted that escape was impossible was when it became a reality.

"Hey… Zoro." It was Robin, her voice flat and shallow, sounding exhausted in every possible manner.

The swordsman didn't respond, caught in between his obsession with grinding through his chains and surprise at the tone of his companion.

"Do you… do you think we'll get out of here?"

Zoro stopped what he was doing and looked contemplatively at the archeologist.

"That's an awfully uncharacteristic thing for you to say."

"Don't avoid the question," she snapped.

"How the hell should I know?" Zoro responded in kind. "Stop being so damn pessimistic, woman."

"We've been locked up here for days with no sign that anything is going on outside! Luffy and the others have no idea where we are and our best _chance_ at escape is breaking through our chains?"

"Well _sorry_ that my plan sucks," Zoro barked out. "It's all I can think of. This sort of thing is way better suited for you, anyways. You're the smartest person I know, Robin. Get your head out of your ass and think of a way to get us out of here!"

"And what do YOU know?" Robin yelled hysterically. "Everyone always looks to me for answers but I don't know everything! I can't be expected to have a plan for every little thing that happens!"

"The hell are you going on about? Nobody expects you to know everything! We ask because you're the most levelheaded person in our crew and we can always rely on you for that. If you'd quit being so damned stubborn it'd be easy to see."

Robin opened her mouth to yell more but Zoro unknowingly cut her off.

"Jesus, you'd think that of all people to get this shit it would be you, Robin." He began grinding his chains feverishly in irritation. "Why can't you just accept that your abilities are not under constant judgment from us and even if you don't know what to do we'll still figure out something? For fuck's sake, with a captain like Luffy we already improvise damn near everything we do."

A minute passed between the two strawhats with nigh a word spoken. Robin's mind furiously ran thoughts and memories through her head to prove to what Zoro had said wrong. She didn't want to but she'd grown accustomed to the notion that every action she made weighed heavily on the minds of others. Instead, all she could recall were times where she had been mistaken or flat out wrong about something asked of her. Instead of getting mad the crewmate in question shrugged it off nonchalantly. It was bittersweet to admit but Zoro had been completely right; nobody judged her for her mistakes. It was a far stretch from before joining the Straw Hats when every error made was treated with unscrupulous punishments.

Robin looked over to the green haired swordsman and caught him looking at her curiously. Upon being discovered Zoro shied away –had he been staring at her?– and looked down at the ground. She found herself wanting to apologize but was too embarrassed from her outburst to do so.

"Hey, Robin…" Zoro said, casting a glance towards the archeologist. "What… what were you thinking about just now? A way to get us out?"

The words were awkward and somewhat forced, Robin realized; as if the green haired swordsman were also trying to apologize in his own way but didn't know how. It was strangely endearing of him; she was at fault and he was innocently trying to apologize for yelling at her even though it had been for her own good.

"Not quite…" she said soothingly.

"Oh… I see." He looked at her again. "Listen… I–uh–"

"Sorry about what I said earlier," Robin interjected. "I was just… frustrated at my inability to do anything to help." She smiled at Zoro warmly. "Thanks."

A twitch of a smile began to appear on the younger man's face unconsciously. His face bore a dumb expression when he noticed and the swordsman looked blankly at the archeologist before turning away. He returned to his grinding, more vigorous than before, while grumbling something incomprehensive to himself.

"You don't really need to apologize, by the way," Zoro blurted out, catching the archeologist off guard.

Robin gave her crewmate a quizzical look.

"We all have moments of weakness, it's nothing to get too caught up over."

"Even you?" Robin responded coyly. She ignored the insensitive nature of his statement; Zoro was never good at being subtle, despite his good intentions.

Zoro looked pensive. "Yeah… even me."

In truth the same things had been going through the swordsman's mind not a moment before Robin asked about them. His plan sucked; they both knew that. Better than nothing, sure, but not by much. Time was rapidly dwindling with each minute that passed and at any moment someone could come barging through that door and kill them. The only thing that prevented him from entertaining those notions was Robin; the idea of her coming into harm's way compelling his body into action despite all logic and reasoning.

"At the very least, I swear that I'll make sure you get out of here alive."

It was a bold statement, perhaps too bold, Zoro thought, but it was more for him than it was for her. With those words, no matter how bad things got, Zoro would do everything remotely possible to get them freed of their bonds.

"Swear that you'll get _us_ out of here alive," Robin replied, not ignoring the green haired swordsman's particular choice of words.

Zoro said nothing.

Robin wanted to argue his oath, make him recant parts of what he had said, but couldn't find the strength to do so. She understood that he truly meant every word spoken and it made her feel too good to be able to chastise him for it. However, the notion of escaping at the cost of Zoro's life terrified her. All the things left unsaid, left undone.

"Zoro… I–I have something I need to tell you…" Robin began with a wavering, nervous voice. "In… in case you–in case we both don't make it out of here."

The raven haired archeologist paused with her jaw clenched, the words so easy to come but incredibly difficult to get out. She finally mustered her courage and opened her mouth.

Both strawhats' hearts stopped as the creaking of a door opening filled the room. It wasn't thrown open like usual, instead the hinges groaned lowly from a slowly opening door, as if the person opening it was trying to do so as quietly as possible. The door was immediately locked when it shut close and a lone marine stood on the other side.

Zoro squinted at the ambiguous figure before he noticed a peculiar detail that had caught his attention many times over the course of his imprisonment; a crooked, misshapen nose. It was… Richter was it? Zoro couldn't figure out what the man wanted with the two prisoners, especially since he had come alone.

The swordsman looked over at his companion and saw that she knew. Her features showed unbridled rage mixed with apprehensive fear and Zoro began to put together what she thought was coming.

No… he wouldn't…

"Damn fools, they should have known those damn pirates would show up eventually. I even told them to move these guys off of the island! No matter… I finally have this chance thanks to all of the distraction. Nobody will know I was ever here."

"Pirates? Distraction?" Robin echoed, her eyes never leaving the marine.

He looked at her lustfully. "Doesn't concern you, I'm afraid." He paused, looking contemplative for a moment. "Ah, hell, what does it matter? Your crew is causing quite a ruckus outside."

Both Zoro and Robin felt their spirits rise.

"Don't get your hopes up, they won't find this place. Only a handful of us know it even exists and it's hidden away from the other cells. Your crew will think we've shipped you out already."

Richter walked up to Robin and inspected her body. "Wow… I don't think I've ever crossed a woman as beautiful as you. It's a shame you're a pirate and not my wife."

Robin spat on the man and he looked offended.

"The hell was that for?"

"You know exactly what it's for."

"But I haven't done anything!" he weakly protested before smiling wickedly. "Though, I guess you have a point."

The marine began running his hands up and down the archeologist's arms, the woman shuddering in disgust under his touch.

Zoro looked aghast at what was unfolding in front of him.

"Now don't be like that, sweetheart. Let's both try to have a little fun. What do you say?"

Richter continued to grope various parts of Robin's body before leaning in to steal a kiss from the restrained woman.

Before Zoro could even register what was happening, a primal rage burst through and took over his body. Without realizing it, Zoro had broken through the chain restricting his left hand, his wrist covered in cuts which bled from the exertion. A length of chain was still attached to the cuff and the swordsman whipped it at the marine assaulting Robin. Whether by luck or skill, the chain wrapped around the man's neck multiple times and Zoro yanked it with all of his might.

Even though he'd been through hell and back the past few days, Zoro managed to pull the marine off of his feet and across the ground by his neck, the chain tightening around his throat. Zoro continued to pull the man closer to him and when the marine was at his feet he stepped on his chest and pulled the chain taught with exertion.

Guttural noises escaped the man under his foot as he desperately tried to gasp for air, sputtering out saliva in his effort. His hands feebly clawed at the chain still tightening around his neck, each tug causing the links to further lock together without reprieve. Soon no noise was able to escape the marine and his face darkened from a lack of oxygen, eyes bulging. His violent struggles to free himself became weaker and slower and in short time completely ceased. Zoro knew the man was dead, and yet he couldn't stop himself from pulling on the chain harder and harder, his grip so tight that his knuckles were stark white.

Richter had done the one thing that Zoro, no matter what the circumstance, could ever forgive. He couldn't think of anything more despicable and cowardly and even if it hadn't been directed at the archeologist the green haired swordsman would probably still have acted the same way. That it was Robin only made his fury stronger.

Finally, as the adrenaline began to subside, Zoro loosened his grip, his hands shaking, and took his foot off of the dead marine's chest. He stared blankly at the man for a moment, inspecting his horrified features as if he couldn't understand what he had just done. The green haired swordsman remembered the man's intended victim and instantly forgot about everything else, his mind focusing solely on his comrade.

"Oi, Robin!" he yelled out in a panic, turning his head towards the archeologist. "Are you ok? He didn't hurt you, did he?"

Robin didn't respond, her attention to his feet. Zoro followed her gaze and saw that she was staring at what was once the man named Richter. For a brief moment, Zoro wondered if she was appalled at the swordsman's reaction until the raven haired woman spat on the man at his feet, her legs trembling and her breathing strained.

"Robin…"

He didn't know what to say. After all, what could he say? The man had tried to rape her and would have succeeded had Zoro not intervened. The resourceful, powerful, and independent Nico Robin had been all but powerless to protect herself.

"Check his body."

"Huh?" Zoro was shocked at how composed the archeologist was, far more so than he was.

"For a key. Quickly, before anyone comes to investigate."

"Oh, right."

Muffled yells and loud pounding resounded from the cell door. The handle twisted violently as people on the other side tried opening the door but to no avail thanks to it being locked.

"Shit!" Zoro yelled out. "Already?"

"Ignore them, hurry up and look."

Zoro hoisted the body up by the chain wrapped around its neck and began rummaging through any pocket he could reach with his left hand. He desperately needed to use both hands but one was still restricted.

The swordsman strung together long sequences of curses as his frantic search turned up nothing but lint and outturned pockets. The bastard could have at least brought a damned key with him to make up for all the shit they'd been put through.

Zoro continued to search Richter's corpse for anything they could use. He could feel Robin's gaze burning into him and the banging on the door growing louder each passing second. It was only a matter of time before someone came with a cell key to get inside and with a marine dead at his feet there was no question of what would happen when they did.

"Hurry up, Zoro. We're running out of time," Robin said sternly, trying to hide the panic in her tone.

"I know that! Fuck! He's got to have _something_."

A screeching noise filled the swordsman's ears and he knew the source to be the bolt in the door slowly unlocking. It must have been ages since the key was used.

Spurred on with their impending doom, Zoro continued to desperately search Richter's body. He shoved his hand in the last spots he could think to check, even those he'd rather not have searched through. He even went through pockets already looked at in hopes that he had missed something earlier. Nothing he did produced anything of use; all he could get his hand on was some pocket change.

"Forget the key, Zoro! Try using the chain again!"

The chain! That's right, he had nearly forgotten. If Richter didn't have a key, then maybe one of the other people who were about to come in would.

Zoro used the precious few seconds left as the marines shimmied the lock open to unwind the chain spiraled around Richter's neck. He was barely able to finish when the door was thrown open.

"RICHTER!" an all too familiar voice bellowed out.

A marine immediately burst into the room carrying a rifle, getting far closer than he should have to Zoro and Robin without analyzing the situation. He was followed by an unarmed Daron, who was the source of the yell, and then a third marine who also bore his own rifle. All three men looked highly flustered and Daron himself looked the worst of the three, his face drained and pallid.

"What in the hell…" Daron slowly muttered as he inspected the two inmates, his eyes widening when he got to Zoro. "You…"

"BASTARD!" It was the first marine who had entered and he had finally grasped the spectacle in front of him. A fellow marine lay dead in front of him and it was clear as to what the cause was and who was responsible.

Zoro knew it was far beyond the point for any words and even if they learned what Richter had intended he doubted it would have mattered. He watched as the marine aimed the rifle straight at his chest before taking advantage of the younger man's positioning.

The green haired swordsman swung the chain attached to his wrist at the marine in an attempt to coil it around his neck as he had done with Richter, however the youth noticed it coming at him and attempted to jump back to dodge. Unfortunately for the man, he was a second too slow and the end of the chain sheared the side of his throat instead of wrapping around it and managed to cut the carotid artery. The younger marine unconsciously fired off a shot and the bullet bore into the cufflink on Zoro's right hand. Luck was finally on his side as the cufflink shattered and completely freed the swordsman from his bonds.

Zoro took instant action and rushed forward towards Daron. He leapt over the marine in front of him who was now crumpled on the ground, clutching at his neck, and grabbed the link of chain on his left wrist with both hands as if it were the hilt of a sword.

Before either of the two remaining marines could stop him, Zoro swung the chain as hard as he could at head level. Daron reacted instantly and ducked under the swing, however the second marine wasn't as quick. The chain slammed into the side of his head, gouging his face and, Zoro guessed, probably broke his cheekbone. The man went down in an instant grabbing his face and screaming.

Zoro didn't have enough time, nor enough strength, to swing a third time at Daron so he instead dropped his shoulder and charged into the larger man. Daron had been off balance from dodging the chain so Zoro easily brought him to the ground, landing on top of the marine captain.

Sitting on top of the man responsible for everything he and Robin had endured recently, Zoro could no longer restrain his rage and he drove fist after fist into the man's face, using the downward momentum to strengthen his incredibly weak blows. After a couple of hits, Zoro felt something drive into his stomach and realized that Daron was fighting back, effectively. A second hit landed right under his ribcage and Zoro roared in agony from the kidney shot, black spots popping up everywhere in his vision.

Before a third hit could be delivered, Zoro clasped his hands together and swung them into the side of Daron's head. It didn't do much aside from disorient the marine captain, but that's all Zoro needed it to do. Before the marine could recover, Zoro searched the man's coat for the key he so desperately needed. Again luck shined on the strawhat as the first coat pocket he went through turned up a key; he prayed it be the right one.

Zoro turned and threw the key towards Robin and somehow managed to get it all the way to her. She caught it in one of her hands and immediately went about to unlocking her shackles.

When Zoro turned back to face his adversary, all he saw was a hand holding a pistol swinging into the side of his head. The green haired swordsman was flung to the side from the hit and he fell off of Daron's body in a heap, his vision blurred and head throbbing. Half of his vision turned red when blood from the new wound made its way into his left eye.

The last of his strength had entirely left him and Zoro now lay as helpless as a baby on the floor of the cell. He'd failed to take out everyone but he had at least gotten what he hoped was the key to Robin's freedom. The world around him began fading until words snapped him back into focus.

"STOP RIGHT NOW, NICO ROBIN."

Zoro's was turned onto his back and he saw the bad end of a pistol directly over him. He looked to his companion and saw the key fit snugly into her cuffs, a turn away from releasing her.

"Do it…" Zoro said, barely able to get his voice above a whisper. It was hardly audible over the continued groan coming from the marine who'd taken the hit to the face.

"Do it and I put one right between his eyes," Daron promised. His face was battered and bloody, but nothing a few days' rest wouldn't fix. Zoro's blows had less strength behind them than he'd thought.

Robin looked dangerously at the marine captain.

"Oh, I know you'd get me before I could plug you as well, but I'll definitely make sure Roronoa Zoro has another hole to breathe through."

The raven haired archeologist looked between the two men, horrified at the decision she was being forced to make. Her grip on the key began to loosen.

"No… d–don't. Use it…"

"I'm sorry, Zoro. I know he'll kill us both but I can't be the reason for your death. I'd rather die with you than have you die for my freedom."

"B–But–"

"I guess that makes two of us who are selfish, huh?" Robin finished with a somber tone and fake smile, taking the key out and dropping it to the ground.

Daron erupted into laughter and started walking to Robin.

"God damn I never expected that to work! Talk about amazing, I never expected the two of you to get this close to escaping." He paused, looking back at Zoro. "Shame that you had to come so far only to fall short. Don't feel too bad, though, since you were right about one thing at least."

Daron pointed the gun at Robin.

"That I'm going to kill you both."

"C–Coward," Zoro spat out.

The marine captain walked back to Zoro and grabbed him by the collar, pulling him up into a sitting position.

"Come again?"

"I said… y–you're a coward."

Daron smiled scornfully. "Really now, why is that?"

"Does threatening–" Zoro winced in pain. "a woman make you feel big? Y–You're a coward and you're w–weak."

The smile on Daron's face disappeared.

"C-Can't fight so you threaten. Have to have… others do your dirty work." Zoro coughed up some blood. "Even when I'm l–like this… you're too scared of me so you off the h–helpless woman first. Real big."

"You're one to talk about being helpless, Roronoa Zoro. Look at you," Daron said, gesturing to the swordsman. "You're one fucking pathetic mess. I don't even need to bother touching you, I can leave you lying there and you'll die all the same."

The marine captain stood up and began walking over to Robin.

"But not before I make you wish you were dead."

Zoro weakly laughed. "R–Running again?"

Daron stopped and turned back to see that Zoro bore a smug grin.

"Our f–fight isn't finished."

Daron pursed his lips. "It pisses me off to no end that you have the balls to say that as you are. You realize I don't have to kill her quickly, right?"

Zoro laughed again, this time louder. "L–Like I said. You can't fight; have to threaten. C –Coward."

Daron walked over and kicked Zoro in the stomach. The swordsman spat out more blood and performed something of a mix between laughing and coughing.

"What… is so… DAMN FUNNY?" Daron yelled, adding a kick in between each pause.

Zoro didn't respond, instead continuing his morbid laughter. What Daron couldn't see, and consequently humored the swordsman, was Robin working the key she had dropped earlier into her cuffs. She'd grabbed it off of the ground with her feet when Daron had first been distracted by Zoro and brought it to her hand, hiding it there until Zoro had distracted him a second time.

A lone, clicking noise echoed through the cell.

Daron hesitantly looked back towards the archeologist before his eyes widened in unbridled fear.

Zoro wished he could see what Robin had in store for the man but passed out as her arms snaked around him.

_Ending note: Intense? I hope so. Still have a chapter or two left in this story to wrap things up, look forward to it. As always, please let me know your thoughts on this chapter and feel free to tell me if there were things you disliked about it! I realize the attempted rape may be a bit much for some people, but it merely served as a means to instigate the final conflict in the story (hence why I didn't really go into much detail). _


	5. Chapter 5

_Zoro looked around in a haze; there was a sway of images and he saw the feet of someone carrying him._

"_Hang in there, Zoro! We'll find Luffy and the others, I swear!"_

…

"_Back off! Don't make me fight; I don't have time to waste!"_

_The voice was so familiar, he could almost place who it was. Before he could figure out the identity, gunshots rang out around him followed soon after by the sound of bones snapping. He still could not look any higher than the feet of the person carrying him._

…

"_Nami? NAMI! OVER HERE!"_

_The voice was clearer now; Zoro knew he knew who it belonged to, but his mind was so warped and distant that the name was as far away from him as the face he couldn't see._

"_Robin!"_

_Was that who it was? Oh… right, Robin and he had been together all this time, it wouldn't be that far of a stretch for her to be carrying him, right?_

"_Holy shit! Is that Zoro? What happened to you guys? Are you shot, Robin?"_

_The new voice was also feminine, it had to be Nami._

"_Where's everyone else?"_

"_Follow me, I'll take you to them."_

…

"_Nami-san! You found them!"_

"_Yeah, it's bad though. Robin's been shot and Zoro's… well…"_

"_What the fuck? What did they do to him?"_

"_What does it matter? Where's Luffy and the rest? We need to get Zoro back on the ship now."_

"_Not sure, but after you got separated we found some den-den mushis; I'll let everyone know we have Zoro and Robin and that we should regroup. Here, Robin-chan, let me."_

_Zoro felt a strong pair of hands take him out of Robin's grasp. He was draped over a shoulder and soon after his face was buried into a fancy suit that reeked of smoke._

"_Let's go."_

…

"_WHAT HAPPENED TO ZORO?"_

"_Calm down, Chopper, we don't know yet. You have to fix him up though... what took you?"_

_The voices were so familiar to Zoro but entirely undistinguishable. He knew one belonged to Chopper, at least, but that's only because his name was mentioned. Whatever was going on right now, the swordsman had no comprehension._

"_The way I came was blocked off; I had to take a longer route. Bring him to my room and put him on the bed, we can't put his body through any more stress or he might die." _

"_Will he make it?"_

"_If you do what I say, then probably. He's in such bad condition right now that as a doctor I'm stunned he can even breathe. We have to treat him immediately."_

_Was he really in such a sorry state? What was happening?_

…

"_How is he, Chopper? Is he going to be ok?"_

"_I don't know. We're through the worst at least; right now it entirely depends on how strong of a will he has. There's nothing more any of us can do other than wait."_

"_Knowing Zoro, I'm sure he'll pull through."_

"…"

"_Yeah… I hope so…"_

…

"_Can you hear me, Zoro…?"_

_It was that feminine voice again; the same one that had been constantly talking to him on and off for a while._

"_I'm sure you can, even if you can't respond."_

_He tried speaking out, as he'd done every time before, but like the others no sound came. Attempts to move were just as fruitless; all he could do was lie still and listen._

"_Look, my arm's healing much better now. Well… I guess you can't really see it but it's gotten much better, trust me. I wonder if it's going to leave a scar… Chopper said it shouldn't leave anything too noticeable. I wouldn't mind if it did, though, as long as you wake up soon."_

"_It's strange… isn't it? You'd think I would hate any reminder of that place, but I can't help but think that I'd wear it with pride. I wonder what it's going to be like from now on here on the ship. Things probably aren't going to be the same, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing as long as you're still here. Look at me… prattling on by myself. Good thing nobody else is here or they'd think I'm crazy."_

"_Who knows… maybe I am..."_

"_Please wake up."_

* * *

Zoro awoke to a pounding headache and excruciating pain covering his entire body. This was being awake… right? He'd been dreaming for so long that the distinction between the two had become blurred. The swordsman tried to sit up, but at best he could get his shoulders off of the bed he laid on.

"Oh, you're finally up!" a masculine voice said in a startle.

"Ugh," Zoro groaned. "Why do _you_ have to be the first voice I hear, damn love cook."

Sanji chuckled softly. "We've been taking turns watching over you ever since you got fixed up. Well… most of us have, anyways. Robin's hardly left your side since the two of you got back to the ship."

Zoro craned his neck up and looked around the room. The archeologist was absent.

"I made her leave a few hours ago to get some much needed rest, but she's going to be pissed when she finds out you woke up when she wasn't around."

"At who?"

Sanji took out a cigarette from his coat pocket. "Both of us, probably."

Both strawhats laughed somberly. Silence filled the room afterwards for a few minutes while Sanji lit up and smoked his cigarette and Zoro tested his ability to move.

"Good job, by the way." Sanji said after taking the last hit from his cigarette and putting it out in the ash tray next to Zoro's bed. The swordsman saw that the ashtray was pretty much overflowing with cigarettes.

"Good job?" Zoro repeated distastefully. The last thing he wanted to deal with was Sanji giving him shit.

"No, seriously. While I'm not going to ignore the fact you managed to get your sorry ass caught, I will admit you did well."

"I don't really follow…"

Sanji sighed. "You're sorta dense, you know?"

"Bite me," Zoro snarled.

"Whatever," Sanji shrugged. "I mean that you protected Robin and somehow managed to not get yourself killed." The cook narrowed his eyes at the swordsman. "I don't know what kind of things they did to you in there, Zoro, but I can only imagine what you had to go through to keep Robin from harm. It's something you'll only hear from me this once but I respect what you did in there."

"How is she, anyway?" Zoro asked, a distant look in his eye.

"Doing just fine; was she shot while you were in captivity?" A large sign of concern crossed the cook's face.

"What? No. Why, was she shot?" Zoro felt his chest tighten; he couldn't imagine what he'd do if the archeologist had been seriously hurt.

"Just a flesh wound, friend. Got her in the meat of the arm but it's nothing a few weeks won't cure. Might be a scar, Chopper said, that's about it."

_Gunshot? Scar? _These were words that stuck out to the swordsman, though he couldn't place why. Something related to the dreams he just had, he knew that much, but of what he couldn't think of.

"I see…"

"Yeah, nothing _too _serious, at least. Anyways, both of you guys were starting to show signs of malnourishment when we found you so I'm guessing your captors didn't put much effort into keeping you fed. I managed to get her to eat, though, so you don't need to worry about that."

Sanji walked to the other end of the room. "However, you can imagine that it's not easy feeding a person who isn't awake." The cook returned, a plate of food in his hand.

Zoro realized just how hungry he was when he saw the food.

Sanji placed the plate of food on the table next to Zoro's bed before walking towards the door. The green haired swordsman noticed that his blades were resting against the table.

"I'll give you 15 minutes to eat up and gather yourself before I let everyone know you're awake."

Without another word the cook left the room.

Zoro finally sat up and stared hungrily at his plate for a few seconds before noticing something missing.

"Damnit, love cook, would it really kill you to—" the swordsman felt something pressing against his back and reached behind him. Hidden behind a few of the pillows that he rested on was an unopened bottle of sake. "Not bad." He silently wondered how Chopper would react if the reindeer saw the bottle of alcohol in his hands.

Not wasting any more time, Zoro grabbed the plate of food and tore into it ravenously, allowing himself generous intakes of the sake between each mouthful. It was a good thing Sanji had left; Zoro wasn't being very elegant. He knew the cook wouldn't have been bothered, but it was still nice to have the privacy.

Zoro made quick work of the sizable serving and finished it off with an extra long swill from the bottle and an audible sigh of satisfaction. He looked at the bottle and scowled, seeing that he'd already downed more than half of it. There was hardly any left for enjoyment and he doubted that there'd be a second bottle stowed away somewhere.

It wasn't long before Zoro heard excited voices from outside the room. It had only been around ten minutes and Zoro was surprised he'd even gotten that much. The rest of the crew would naturally be curious about Zoro's condition when Sanji left and he wasn't a very good liar.

The door flew open and Zoro saw Sanji desperately trying to hold back various members of the crew, most notably Luffy. It was only delaying the inevitable as it was nearly impossible to stop Luffy from doing something when his mind was set to it and it didn't take long for the rubber captain to break through, flinging himself into the room and landing in front of the bed.

"ZORO!" Luffy cried out happily, relieved to see his first-mate awake.

"Yo," the swordsman responded with an amused smile.

Luffy stood up and began laughing, rubbing his nose with a finger. "Man, you really had us worried there for a sec, you know?"

"Yeah."

Luffy dusted off his pants and walked over to the side of the bed. "Also…"

Zoro felt a fist bury into the side of his face. It wasn't hard enough to knock him out or off of the bed, but definitely hard enough to hurt and send the message.

"DUMBASS! How did you manage to get caught? It's embarrassing and it makes our crew look bad!" Luffy was seething. "What would have happened if we didn't find you in time? What would we have done?"

"… Yeah, I get it," Zoro said, rubbing his cheek.

"LUFFY, YOU IDIOT!"

Nami, who had just walked in, reached back and slugged Luffy in the back of the head harder than Zoro had ever seen her do.

"What the hell is your problem?" She asked wildly. "He hasn't even been up for 15 minutes and you're already trying to put him back into a coma?"

"Owww," Luffy whimpered, rubbing the back of his head. "What was that for?"

"_Seriously?_"

"I'm the captain," Luffy responded defiantly. "It's my duty to punish those who endanger the life of another crewmember."

Zoro watched the two quarrel with growing irritation.

"He saved Robin as well, or do you forget what he looked like when we found them?" Nami argued.

The swordsman imagined he must have looked like a sorry mess when they rescued him and began recalling the voices from his dreams. Maybe they weren't as much of dreams as he thought they were.

"And who was it that was carrying him?" Luffy snapped.

Nami paused for a moment. She opened her mouth to continue arguing but Zoro decided he'd had enough.

"That's enough, Nami." He waited until the orange haired navigator turned to him before continuing. "Luffy's right, I put both of us in danger by telling the rest of you to go on ahead. There's no excuse for that."

"But…" Nami slumped her shoulders. "Alright."

"How long have I been out, anyways?" Zoro asked. "I forgot to ask Sanji when I woke up."

Nami and Luffy looked at each other, Nami with a look of apprehension and Luffy with no change in features.

"Well…" Nami began awkwardly. "The thing about that is… well… you've been out for kind of a longer time than anyone really anticipated."

"A week." Luffy said nonchalantly.

Zoro raised an eyebrow. "A week, huh? That's a new record."

"Yup."

"This is no joking matter!" Nami berated. "You may have made it out ok this time, Zoro, but there's a limit to how much your body can take without giving it enough time to heal."

"Geeze, Nami," Zoro mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. "You're starting to sound like Chopper."

"Who's starting to sound like me?" a high pitched voice asked at the edge of the room. Chopper trotted in with medical supplies in his clutches. "Sanji told me that you'd woken up, Zoro, so I came right aw—HEY! What's that in your hand?"

The blue nosed reindeer pointed angrily at the bottle of sake in Zoro's hand, the tip in his mouth with him downing a considerable portion.

"Huh?" Zoro asked, taking the bottle out of his mouth. "Oh, it's sake."

"WHAAAAT!" Chopper exclaimed. "How did you get that? You shouldn't be drinking anything but water for another week at least!"

"A week?" Zoro repeated distastefully.

"Yeah, so give it to me and I'll go get you some after I check up on your injuries."

"Don't wanna." Zoro stated and took another swig.

"Hey, I'm not joking!" Chopper said, running up to the side of the bed. He jumped up and down, trying in vain to grab the bottle from Zoro's hand. The swordsman raised the bottle just barely out of the doctor's reach each time he jumped.

The reindeer stopped and began sulking.

"Fine," he said sullenly. "I guess you can finish just that—GOT IT!"

Chopper jumped for the sake bottle yet again, trying to use the element of surprise to trick Zoro. It didn't work and Zoro kept the bottle out of his reach. Luffy erupted into laughter.

"Don't just laugh you guys, help me!"

Nami sighed and Luffy simply continued to laugh.

"Fine," Nami gave in. She gave the swordsman an even look. "Zoro, we'll let you keep that bottle and—"

"That's not helping!" Chopper interrupted.

"Calm down, Chopper, this is us making some compromises. You can understand that, right?"

Chopper nodded reluctantly after a moment.

"Good. Okay," the navigator continued, looking back at Zoro. "We'll let you keep that one for today, and in return you drink water strictly for the next couple of days." She gave him an overly obvious wink and the swordsman guessed that it was her best impression of a 'we'll smuggle you some alcohol' look.

"Nope."

"Why?" Both Nami and Chopper yelled.

"Because I'm not going to be staying in this room any longer."

"No way!" Chopper ordered. "You're not in any condition to be moving around. You need to get a lot more rest before I'll allow you to leave here."

"More rest? I've been out for an entire week. That's more than enough rest."

"That isn't how it works! You were out for a week because your body was in such bad shape that being conscious wasn't even possible. You need at least four more days of rest, and that's me being generous."

Zoro sat up and threw his legs off the side of the bed. The deep bruising in his legs he'd gotten from the beatings hadn't healed fully, but they were good enough where he felt confident to walk. The swordsman took a deep breath, chugged the rest of the bottle of sake down, and forced himself up onto his feet. He staggered immediately from the mind-numbing pain that shot through his legs, almost falling even, however managed to recover his balance by steadying himself on the bed.

The entire room was silent as his crewmates watched him grab his katana and try to walk, all but Luffy with a look of awe on their faces; the captain instead wore a more solemn expression.

After getting used to the pain, Zoro righted himself and began walking towards the door, slowly at first but with increasing speed. The effects of the sake were beginning to kick in and helped to null the pain a little while simultaneously relaxing the swordsman. Zoro had a nagging feeling that Sanji knew he'd immediately get up and leave when he got the chance to. The cook had, after all, left Zoro with a bottle of alcohol and showed him where his swords were before giving him15 minutes alone.

_I'll have to thank the bastard later_, Zoro thought.

Zoro made his way to the door uninterrupted and opened it. The sound of the door opening must have knocked Chopper out of his daze because he decided then to raise his objections.

"Zoro. As a doctor, I can't and won't let you leave this room, even if it's by force."

Zoro looked back at the reindeer for a moment, then again to the door.

"Suit yourself."

Zoro heard the sound of a hand hitting a hat.

"Let it be, Chopper." It was Luffy, finally saying his piece. "He's going, regardless of what you do."

"But…"

"You'll understand one day."

Zoro smirked lightly. Despite all his stupid bullshit Luffy was frighteningly knowledgeable at times. It was one of his better traits.

The swordsman left and closed the door behind him, leaving the other three to talk amongst themselves. He was immediately greeted with a refreshing cool breeze and the warm feeling of sunlight over his body, something he hadn't been sure he'd ever feel again while in captivity. His body hurt all over, however it was nothing a good afternoon nap wouldn't cure. As much as he'd have liked to resume his training, Zoro knew that he wouldn't be able to do anything for at least another day. More than anything else, Zoro also knew that everybody on the ship was going to want to talk to him once they discovered that he'd woken up, so the swordsman decided to go to a place nobody else would go to.

Zoro looked over the deck and curiously saw nobody in sight. The Crow's Nest was definitely off limits for the time being, and even if he'd wanted to go up there Zoro doubted he'd be able to climb up on his own just yet, so he began thinking of other places.

There was the aquarium, among other places, but Zoro was not about to go back indoors any time soon; he was enjoying the fresh air far too much. With only places on the deck left to choose from, there really was only one choice; Nami's orange bushes. Nodding to himself in satisfaction, the swordsman headed towards the spot.

Zoro made his way up the ship and almost got to the spot without running into any crewmates until he was just outside the ship's library, located directly across the orange bushes. Without warning, he found himself face-first with Robin, the last person he expected to run into. She must have just woken up since she was rubbing her eyes, a cup of coffee in her free hand. He looked and saw her right arm's bicep was wrapped with a bandage; likely the spot she'd been shot. Everything suddenly clicked; the voice that had been constantly talking to him in his dreams was Robin's. Zoro couldn't believe how stupid he'd been to not put that together until then. His eyes also widened as he recalled the comment Sanji had made about how mad she'd likely get that he woke up without her around.

"Uhh…" Zoro began awkwardly, not beginning to know what to say. "Hey?"

Robin stood there and stared at him peculiarly. "I see you're still up, Zoro, despite what Sanji told me. That's a relief."

Zoro gulped. _Shit, Sanji, what did you tell her?_ Zoro doubted that the archeologist was anything but pleased that she'd been lied to.

"Uhh, yeah, I am, I… guess…"

Robin gave him one of her trademark smiles. "That's good, now I can catch up on my reading without worrying."

"Your… reading?" Zoro repeated confusedly to the back of Robin's head. She'd turned away from him while he responded and he watched her dumbly as she walked across into the ship's library without another word, pouring out her coffee on the deck before she entered.

"Wait…what about your arm?"

It was too late; the archeologist was out of earshot.

_That was… weird. What was that all about?_

Zoro wasn't quite sure at what had just happened, but Robin seemed like she may have been mad at him; definitely mad at the cook, though, whose coffee was setting into the wood outside the library. Speaking of, the library was definitely off limits for the time being, at least until he resolved things with the archeologist.

Zoro yawned and suddenly realized how exhausted he really was. Chopper hadn't been joking; Zoro's body was definitely in no condition to be walking around like he was. The swordsman shrugged to himself; it didn't matter if his body was in the right condition or not, he didn't have any more time to be wasting in a bed.

Zoro walked past where Nami's orange bushes were, grabbing one of the fruits for himself, to one of his favorite spots by the main mast, sitting down against it. He used the bushes as cover to prevent anyone who hadn't seen him come up there from finding him to prevent his nap from being disturbed. The fact that they provided great shade was just an added bonus. Nami would probably notice him up here but he doubt she'd disturb him, all things considered.

Yawning one last time, Zoro peeled away a part of the orange and bit into it before falling asleep with the fruit still in his mouth. It was easily one of the best naps of his entire life.


End file.
